Cougars fall to Fremd on late goal
By Gary Larsen

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When you don’t have a possession-oriented team, you often have to put on that blue-collared shirt, defend well, and play a more direct style of soccer.

When they’re at their best this season both Fremd and Conant are doing just that, and Fremd did it better in a 1-0 win over the Cougars on Saturday.

“There could have been times when we committed more people forward today, but we’re going to be a little bit similar in that regard,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “We have to be. We rely on our two forwards and attacking midfielder to get the job done.”

“It was a pretty direct game from both sides and they did a nice job of neutralizing our forward,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “We were hoping for something to break our way but it never really did.”

A scoreless MSL game with OT written all over it stopped short of extra time thanks to Fremd’s Zach Schoffstall,  when the sophomore found himself with a shot on his foot from 20 yards out in the game’s 74th minute, and took it.

Schoffstall’s low rip hit the post on the left side of the net, ricocheted hard, and then burned a path into the inside netting on the opposite side of the goal. Schoffstall sent another shot barely high of the goal at 78 minutes.

Fremd keeper Nathan Duffield and defenders Eric Scott, Brock Vonholt, John Smith, and Spencer Janes kept danger to a minimum throughout in helping the Vikings to their third shutout of the season.

“I thought overall we played well in this game,” Scott said. “We had a lot of movement in back and our forwards were able to hold on to the ball, and kind of penetrate through their defense. At the end, we managed to get one in.”

Conant (5-6-1, 2-4 in MSL play) went into Saturday’s game on the heels of 100 minutes of soccer played on Friday night, a 2-2 tie with arch rival Schaumburg.  Fremd (4-7-2, 4-3) lost 3-1 to arch rival Palatine on Thursday.

Saturday’s first half on Conant’s home turf saw very few dangerous shots put on frame from either side. A Conant backline led by Kevin Quinn and a Fremd backline led by Eric Scott keyed a solid defensive effort both ways.

Fremd’s Jeremy Kosacz earned his side a corner kick 30 seconds into Saturday’s game, and teammate Michael Eschbach lined up another corner kick soon after.  Kosacz was busy early on, tearing up the right side and pressuring the Cougars’ backline.

Conant’s Dino Kandalepas intercepted a Fremd clear but fired wide at 9 minutes and the half settled in without many legitimate scoring chances to the intermission.

Two minutes into the second half, Fremd outside defender Smith established a pattern of pressing forward and sending multiple serves from the right side towards the Conant goalmouth.

Smith’s first cross of the half was headed for the upper ninety at the far post, but Openchoswki went up and got it. The Viking’s Michael Debellis sent a shot high at 44 minutes and Openchowski made a diving stop of a Fremd shot taken after a throw-in, and Quinn cleared out the rebound.

“We had the majority of the shots and chances and defensively we were pretty sound, which I was happy about,” Keller said. “Offensively we created some things but we still lack the finishing touch. Certain guys have to find ways to get shots off, and get behind the defense and score. We’re just struggling to do that.

“(The Cougars) keep their shape well and they’re organized, and we didn’t find enough ways to exploit that.”

A Smith throw-in from the right side found Fremd’s Lucas Cholewa, who served it nicely to the back post, but Kosacz couldn’t quite get on the end of it at 48 minutes. Openchowski stopped a Cholewa head shot at 60 minutes and Fremd’s Nate Hellwarth nearly got to a Smith cross at 64 minutes. Openchowski then leapt to swat away a Fremd freekick bent towards the upper ninety at 67 minutes.

Fremd’s presence in its attacking third was paying off, but Conant wasn’t buckling.

“We didn’t give up a whole lot except for their set pieces,” Franco said. “And (Openchowski) has been playing really well.”

Offensively, a Conant attack fairly spearheaded by senior Gio Rocha struggled to find a dangerous shot to put on Duffield, thanks to Fremd’s boys in back.

“(Rocha) played a couple dangerous balls behind us and we didn’t want to get caught up, so one of their players could come through and finish,” Scott said. “I see (improvement), especially compared to the beginning of the year … I see our defense getting more solid in the back. We’re talking a lot more, we’re able to get the ball to our forwards, and they’re able to finish, which is an improvement from the start of the year.”

Fremd centered a ball to Schoffstall at 74 minutes and the junior saw a seam and let fly with the game’s lone goal.

“He’s got that capability,” Keller said of Schoffstall. “We just have to get him to play the whole time he’s out there, with a little more effort and movement. He definitely has the skills and creativity aspect.”

Scott and Vonholt held down the middle of the defense well for the Vikings on Saturday, while Kosacz and Cholewa stayed busy in trying to create in the final third.

Fremd was happy to get the win, but the Vikings’ best story of the day likely sat on the Fremd bench for 80 minutes.

On Thursday, a collision and a concussion sent the Vikings’ Kamil Grudzien to the hospital at the end of Fremd’s game against rival Palatine, and the Fremd senior’s presence on Saturday was a relief to the Vikings’ faithful.

“He’s doing okay. It ended up being a concussion,” Keller said. “When you get a concussion sometimes you seize, and he had a convulsing seizure. But thankfully it was a little scarier than it turned out to be.”

For Conant, Saturday’s game was hard-fought but lacking that extra bit of inspiration needed on back-to-back days.

“We knew we were going to be dragging because of yesterday, but I told them that it’s doable,” Franco said. “Teams do this. They play back-to-back games. It’s too bad because if we had a little bit of spark, we could have won this game. We defended really well but we were never really dangerous.”

In Friday’s tie, the Cougars traveled into enemy territory on Schaumburg’s homecoming weekend and twice battled back from a one-goal deficit to earn the draw.

“It was a gutty effort by us because we went down twice and came back,” Franco said. “I feel like we had the better chances in overtimes. We threatened their goal two or three times. So I was happy to get the tie because it was a gutty effort and we battled back to get it.”

Franco was also pleased with the day’s work put in against Fremd by Quinn, Nathan Marasigan, and the Conant backline, “and Patryk (Openchowski) obviously played well,” he said. “(Justin) Pydo was solid, too, but otherwise everyone played kind of a workmanlike game.”

It was at an early-season practice at Conant where Quinn showed Franco some things in back that got the Cougars’ head coach thinking, and he didn’t have to think for very long.

“Quinn has been our calming presence in back for us,” Franco said. “He used to be a winger or a center midfielder. We put him in back in a scrimmage and let him play behind guys, and knew we were going to have to have him play back there. He covers ground well, he organizes, and he’s the only one that would be vocal. We rely on him a lot.

“A lot of what we do defensively is a credit to him. He adapted to it right away and it would be nice to play him somewhere else because he’s got a lot of composure, but we need him in back.”